October
23, 2003

At its meeting Monday, Oct. 20, a number of villagers
urged the Yellow Springs Village Council to take a stand against the Patriot
Act.

The act, which the federal government enacted in response
to the 9/11 tragedy, has created controversy due to the expanded powers
it gives to law enforcement agencies.

“There’s
a lot of frightening prospects,” said Chris Kintner about the act
which, he said, “strips away rights we take for granted. We need
to come together as a community and snuff it out.”

At issue was a resolution
which opposes parts of the Patriot Act, presented to Council by Joan Chappelle
of the Human Relations Commission. The resolution, proposed by the commission’s
Bill of Rights Defense subcommittee and drafted by subcommittee member
Don Wallis, was approved by the committee at a meeting last Saturday.
Other members of the Human Relations Commission are Council representative
Joan Horn, Sherry Walker, Saul Greenberg, Sterling Wiggins, Aida Merhemic
and Faith Patterson.

Although some encouraged
Council to take action Monday night, several Council members stated they
were not yet ready, since they first read the resolution the night before.
Council stated that it will take a position on the resolution at its next
meeting, Nov. 3.

The resolution reads,
in part, that “Whereas, several acts and orders recently enacted
at the federal level, including sections of the USA Patriot Act and several
Executive Orders, now threaten these fundamental rights and liberties:

• Freedom of
speech, religion, assembly, and privacy;

• The rights
to counsel and due process in judicial proceedings; and

• Protection
from unreasonable searches and seizures, all guaranteed by the Constitution
of the State of Ohio, and the United States Constitution and its Bill
of Rights;

Therefore, we the
Village Council of Yellow Springs, Ohio, acting in the spirit and history
of our community, do hereby request that:

1. Local law enforcement
continue to preserve all residents’ freedom of speech, religion,
assembly and privacy; rights to counsel and due process in judicial proceedings;
and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures even if requested
or authorized to infringe upon these rights by federal law enforcement
agencies acting under powers granted by the USA Patriot Act or orders
of the Executive Branch . . .”

The resolution also
requests that the Yellow Springs Police Department not engage in “detentions
without charges or racial profiling” and that the U.S. Attorney’s
Office, the FBI and the Ohio State Police regularly report to the Village
“the extent to and manner in which they have acted under the USA
Patriot Act of Executive Orders, including disclosing the names of any
detainees who are residents of Yellow Springs.”

The Patriot Act indicates
a “philosophical shift in the notion of justice” in this country,
said Dimi Reber, from assuming innocence until proven guilty to an initial
assumption of guilt.

The federal government’s
increased surveillance of Muslims in this country concerns Bill Houston,
who stated that “When we begin to attack certain religions it’s
not a big step” to attacks on other religions as well.

Similar resolutions
to the one presented to Council have been passed in 188 communities and
three states, including Oxford and Oberlin in Ohio, according to the resolution
supporters.

Council members’
responses to the resolution were mixed.

“I want to
be clear that the wording makes it clear what the resolution is a statement
for,” said Council President Tony Arnett. “These kind of statements
can be horribly misinterpreted.”

While Council member
George Pitstick agreed that the Patriot Act had “gone too far,”
he expressed reservations about the resolution.

“I can understand
the reasons for it when we saw 3,000 people killed and have unknown people
in this country who came here to kill,” said Pitstick, who expressed
his concern that passing the resolution might hamper local police if someone
came to the village intent on terrorist activity.

According to Council
member Denise Swinger, who stated her support for the resolution, interim
Police Chief John Grote has “endorsed it. He’s okay with it.”

Council member Joan
Horn also supports the resolution and encouraged her fellow Council members
to take a stand.

“I feel very
strongly,” she said, “that this is something whose time has
come.”